No. 1 Sunni Terrorist Group, ISIS, Claims to Target No. 1 Shi’ite Terrorist Group, Hezbollah, in Beirut
(CNSNews.com) – The world’s most dangerous Sunni terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), claimed responsibility Thursday for lethal suicide bombings in southern Beirut, a stronghold of the world’s leading Shi’ite terrorist organization, Hezbollah.
The blasts, which Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station said cost at least 41 lives, was the deadliest expression yet of the spillover of the sectarian conflict in neighboring Syria, where ISIS and Hezbollah are among the groups fighting each other.
Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian civil war has made it a target back home of the type of terrorism for which it has itself been notorious for decades.
Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsor are supporting the regime of President Bashar Assad, an adherent of the Shi’ite Allawite sect, while the mostly Sunni rebels trying to oust Assad include al-Qaeda affiliates and ISIS, the latter also fighting to expand its self-declared caliphate.
While Hezbollah was the declared target of the bombers – according to ISIS’ claim of responsibility – victims of the blasts in a busy shopping district were mostly civilians, including children, according to Lebanese officials. One Hezbollah security official, named as Hussein Yaghi (Abu Mortada) was reportedly among the dead.
The attack, the deadliest in the Lebanese capital in many years, came after a year-long relative lull in bombings and attacks linked to the conflict in Syria. Previous large bombings, including several in Beirut in 2013 and 2014 – targeting Hezbollah areas, the Iranian Embassy [1] and an Iranian cultural center – were claimed by an al-Qaeda affiliate.
This time ISIS claimed responsibility.
In a statement circulated on online accounts associated with ISIS, the group said “soldiers of the caliphate” had detonated explosives in a Shi’ite area, the AFP news agency reported.
“After the apostates gathered in the area, one of the knights of martyrdom detonated his explosive belt in the midst of them,” it said. The statement used a pejorative term extremist Sunnis use for Shi’ites, Rafidah (“those who reject”), saying at least 40 Shia had been killed in the attack on what it called the Hezbollah “stronghold.”
Al-Manar said there were three bombers, one of whom appeared to have been inadvertently killed in the second blast before he had time to detonate his own explosive belt.
In a tweeted statement the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said the U.S. “strongly condemns heinous attack” and extended “condolences to victims’ families, wish speedy recovery to wounded.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack on civilians in the Burj Barajneh neighborhood of Beirut.”
“We fully support the Lebanese authorities as they conduct their investigation into this act of terror,” he said. “The United States reaffirms its commitment to Lebanon's security, and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Lebanon in confronting terrorism.”
Lebanese Premier Tammam Salam called the bombings a “cowardly and criminal act” and declared a day of national mourning on Friday.
There was no early reaction to the attack from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, although his advisor, Hussein Khalil, visited the scene of the blasts.
Nasrallah seldom makes public appearances, preferring to deliver speeches by video presented on large screens to supporters.
In his most recent such appearance, on Wednesday – Hezbollah’s “Martyr’s Day” – he praised Palestinians for carrying out deadly knife attacks against Israelis and expressed pride that Israel and the U.S. consider Hezbollah to be a threat.
“When the Great Satan and its puppets say that Hezbollah poses a threat, then we are certain that we are in the right place,” al-Manar quoted him as saying [2].
Before al-Qaeda’s attack on 9/11, the U.S. government held Hezbollah responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other terrorist organization in history.
The Iranian-backed group’s deadliest attacks included suicide bombings targeting the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 which killed more than 300 people, including 241 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors.
The U.S. has designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/no-1-sunni-terrorist-group-isis-claims-target-no-1-shiite-terrorist (CNSNews.com) – The world’s most dangerous Sunni terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), claimed responsibility Thursday for lethal suicide bombings in southern Beirut, a stronghold of the world’s leading Shi’ite terrorist organization, Hezbollah.
The blasts, which Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station said cost at least 41 lives, was the deadliest expression yet of the spillover of the sectarian conflict in neighboring Syria, where ISIS and Hezbollah are among the groups fighting each other.
Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian civil war has made it a target back home of the type of terrorism for which it has itself been notorious for decades.
Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsor are supporting the regime of President Bashar Assad, an adherent of the Shi’ite Allawite sect, while the mostly Sunni rebels trying to oust Assad include al-Qaeda affiliates and ISIS, the latter also fighting to expand its self-declared caliphate.
While Hezbollah was the declared target of the bombers – according to ISIS’ claim of responsibility – victims of the blasts in a busy shopping district were mostly civilians, including children, according to Lebanese officials. One Hezbollah security official, named as Hussein Yaghi (Abu Mortada) was reportedly among the dead.
The attack, the deadliest in the Lebanese capital in many years, came after a year-long relative lull in bombings and attacks linked to the conflict in Syria. Previous large bombings, including several in Beirut in 2013 and 2014 – targeting Hezbollah areas, the Iranian Embassy [1] and an Iranian cultural center – were claimed by an al-Qaeda affiliate.
This time ISIS claimed responsibility.
In a statement circulated on online accounts associated with ISIS, the group said “soldiers of the caliphate” had detonated explosives in a Shi’ite area, the AFP news agency reported.
“After the apostates gathered in the area, one of the knights of martyrdom detonated his explosive belt in the midst of them,” it said. The statement used a pejorative term extremist Sunnis use for Shi’ites, Rafidah (“those who reject”), saying at least 40 Shia had been killed in the attack on what it called the Hezbollah “stronghold.”
Al-Manar said there were three bombers, one of whom appeared to have been inadvertently killed in the second blast before he had time to detonate his own explosive belt.
In a tweeted statement the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said the U.S. “strongly condemns heinous attack” and extended “condolences to victims’ families, wish speedy recovery to wounded.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack on civilians in the Burj Barajneh neighborhood of Beirut.”
“We fully support the Lebanese authorities as they conduct their investigation into this act of terror,” he said. “The United States reaffirms its commitment to Lebanon's security, and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Lebanon in confronting terrorism.”
Lebanese Premier Tammam Salam called the bombings a “cowardly and criminal act” and declared a day of national mourning on Friday.
There was no early reaction to the attack from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, although his advisor, Hussein Khalil, visited the scene of the blasts.
Nasrallah seldom makes public appearances, preferring to deliver speeches by video presented on large screens to supporters.
In his most recent such appearance, on Wednesday – Hezbollah’s “Martyr’s Day” – he praised Palestinians for carrying out deadly knife attacks against Israelis and expressed pride that Israel and the U.S. consider Hezbollah to be a threat.
“When the Great Satan and its puppets say that Hezbollah poses a threat, then we are certain that we are in the right place,” al-Manar quoted him as saying [2].
Before al-Qaeda’s attack on 9/11, the U.S. government held Hezbollah responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other terrorist organization in history.
The Iranian-backed group’s deadliest attacks included suicide bombings targeting the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 which killed more than 300 people, including 241 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors.
The U.S. has designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/no-1-sunni-terrorist-group-isis-claims-target-no-1-shiite-terrorist 
Topic: No. 1 Sunni Terrorist Group, ISIS, Claims to Target No. 1 Shi’ite Terrorist Group, Hezbollah, in Beirut (CNSNews.com) – The world’s most dangerous Sunni terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), claimed responsibility Thursday for (Read 158 times)
